Keeping spare bits.

[Andy the Sheep]

Anyone else keep either a front or the end of the box, I put the date on when finished, also keep the distruction sheets with the same information on ?

John,
I do that with the distruction sheets and sometimes with the printed lids, if they contain useful infos like Tamiya's, like Jakko and Richard; I usually paint the building year and the monogram with my initials inside the model.
I still have lids and sheets of models I built in my 'teens and occasionally I like to go through them.

[JR]

Thanks all, nice to know I'm not alone.:nerd:

[rtfoe]

Thanks all, nice to know I'm not alone.:nerd:

Except when you have a bunch of matches John...I'd keep my distance. :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy: :tears-of-joy:

Cheers,
Richard

[Guest]

I usually paint the building year and the monogram with my initials inside the model.

I’ve done that. Far from always, but occasionally.

[KarlW]

I usually paint the building year and the monogram with my initials inside the model.

I done that on a Warhammer 40K army I painted on commission, owner wasn't happy when he noticed, I pointed out it was under the bases and could easily be painted over.

[Guest]

Since I was taking photos to show my stash just now, I thought I’d also take one of my main spares boxes:

[ATTACH]401826[/ATTACH]

These sit underneath my work surface. Let’s start n the left:

• At the top is the plastic box with compartments I mentioned earlier.
• Below that is an Airfix box with 1:72 scale plane parts.
• The next two gold some older stuff (the Fujimi deck crew set is actually stash, as it contains the remains of that only)
• The Warhammer 40K box is full of 1:72 and 1:72 military vehicle parts.
• The M26A1 box is nearly full of M113 spares.
• The box marked YPR-765 delen (“YPR-765 parts”, because I once started building one based on an M113) actually contains old plastic figures, many of them painted, as does the M48A3 box.
• Everything below that is very old stuff, 30 years and more, mostly just what was left in the box after I built those kits. Not sure why I’m keeping them, other than they keep the top boxes at a good height so I can reach them (there is normally stuff in front of the left pile so I can’t take things out that way).

The right-most pile is the one that I need more often, and contains only 1:35 scale spares:

• The two Sherman boxes contain Sherman suspension parts and tracks (Asuka) and all other Sherman spares (Italeri).
• The greenish M60A1 RISE PASSIVE (by Gunze-Sangyo) is everything that doesn’t go in another box.
• The AFV Club Scimitar box is full of miscellaneous wheels and tracks, which don’t belong in any other box.
• The Tamiya M60A1 box contains M26/M46/M47/M48/M60 parts, except wheels and tracks.
• The M60A3 TTS box also has miscellaneous wheels and tracks.

[Bugatti Fan]

Compartmentalised storage is by far the best way to go. If you just throw everything into one box you will spend more time searching than modelling. Been there, got the T shirt so to speak.
Regarding storage of car and truck kit vinyl tyres. Do not store thrown in with Polystyrene parts. If left for a long time there will be a chemical reaction between the two plastics, ruining both!

[Guest]

Compartmentalised storage is by far the best way to go.

If only it were actually practical, given the amount of parts I have

[minitnkr]

I also save the desiccants from wifes' purchases to put in container w/saved decals. PaulE

[rtfoe]

Other than having a great time searching through my spares and stash boxes, the down side is blacken fingers from years of dust. Also spider webs...a bit like searching for treasure in a vault or cave.
In the tropics I'm usually drenched in sweat after the adventure. Do you all experience that sort of thing?

Cheers,
Richard

[Neil Merryweather]

Compartmentalised storage is by far the best way to go. If you just throw everything into one box you will spend more time searching than modelling. Been there, got the T shirt so to speak.
Regarding storage of car and truck kit vinyl tyres. Do not store thrown in with Polystyrene parts. If left for a long time there will be a chemical reaction between the two plastics, ruining both!

I've experienced that myself, but it begs the question of how long before the reaction takes place on the model the vinyl tyres are intended for?

[Tim Marlow]

I thought that was more prevalent with older kits Neil. Newer vinyl tyres are supposed to be slightly different so it doesn’t happen. Begs the question though, why make them that way to start with. I would far prefer a kit to have hard plastic tyres that took paint properly to hard to clean up rubber tyres....

[rtfoe]

Storing them is one thing but seeing your vehicle sink from rims melting because of the reaction from the rubber tyres can be disheartening.

Cheers,
Richard

[Tim Marlow]

Gloss varnish between the two components minimises the reaction. Still shouldn’t have to worry about it though.

[Guest]

Begs the question though, why make them that way to start with. I would far prefer a kit to have hard plastic tyres that took paint properly to hard to clean up rubber tyres....

I suspect it’s because the soft material allows the manufacturer to mould the tread pattern just like on the real thing, and the colour is automatically right. The alternative is to make up the tire from a set of hard plastic rings that together make up the pattern, and that will require painting.

However, this seems to be far more of a concern for car modellers than military modellers (the two main categories of modeller who deal with wheeled vehicles, I’d think). On average, the latter tend to be far better and more thorough painters than most other kinds of vehicle modeller, is my observation.